Fitting in and joining the team.

Peter Wilson
Published: August 22, 2025

This month’s book recommendation is written by C-RS Social Media Manager, Peter Wilson. 

George Pawlush, a long-time member of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society, has published his latest book, They Came To Play, which discusses how professional sports played a role in Rusyn assimilation to American culture. 

As Pawlush explains, “Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants coming to America in the late 1800s had no idea as to the extent of the nation’s widespread obsession with playing and watching competitive sports. Their first-generation American born sons were eager to assimilate into American life and quickly immersed themselves into these new activities.” 

They Came To Play profiles 45 athletes, and others with ancestral roots to Rusyn villages, who reached the highest level of their sport. A few found fame as professional boxers, but most gravitated to America’s most popular team sports between 1920 and 1960—Major League Baseball and the National Football League. The NFL continued to attract Rusyn-American players throughout the remainder of the twentieth century.

Available for purchase on Amazon (paperback).

Peter Wilson is the Social Media Manager for the Carpatho-Rusyn Society.